The Story of Wind Rider
by RainbowDashFanClub
Summary: An unlikely happenstance becomes the beginning of an epic journey for two friends, Wind Rider and Wave Pool, who are blind and deaf respectively. Actually, they may be a bit more than just friends. Follow in the first person perspective of Wind Rider and her efforts to win the Equestrian Surfing Championships in this original tale of two pegasi who change the world.
1. The Strangest of Beginnings

Chapter 1 – The Strangest of Beginnings

Hi, everyone. My name is Wind Rider, and I'm a surfer. I've even got a cutie mark in surfing. The catch? I'm blind. I can't see the surfboard, I can't see the waves. I can hear it all exceptionally, though. And I can feel it. I feel the waves as they come up and down; hear the tides coming in and out. I can feel the wind in my mane; I can feel the wooden board under my hooves. But I'm happy, I'm happy that I finally compete in the Equestrian Surfing Championships. I just have to get in.

I know my house quite well. It's a small, five-roomed shack on an island shortly off the eastern Equestrian coastline. I've never seen my mane, but nevertheless I keep it brushed, but once I'm done with that I'm getting kind of bored, so I go out to practice my surfing. I grab my board from the wall and gallop out to the shoreline. I know where it is, about fifty paces from my house. I take my dog with me; she likes to watch from the beach and bark to cheer me on. In a way, she's my best friend. Actually, in every way she's my best friend, she keeps me from running into things in places I don't know. However, once I jump onto my surfboard I know the water. I paddle with my wings out to sea, and the gentle waves push me up and down as I lay on my stomach on the board.

"Hey, Wavy!" I call out to my dog, who then barks back at me to confirm that she's there, "Watch this!" I see a wave coming up, it's not too big but that doesn't matter. Actually, it makes this easier. I get up in the swell of the wave, and then take off from my surfboard. Locating where it is with my hearing alone, I then drop from about three feet up back down, then ride back on my back hooves to the shore. "How was that, Wavy girl?" I hear a pleasant bark in response; and she curls up next to me as I sit on the shore, listening to the waves. It must have gotten dark because the next thing I knew, Wavy was barking at me. "All righty girl, I'm coming," I said, picking up the board with my wing and trotting back to my house to get some rest.

I woke up to somepony calling my name. "Wind Rider?" asked the hoarse voice. To this Wavy barked repetitively, indicating that I was there. "Yes, I'm here," I said as I walked outside of my cottage, Wavy leading me by the leash I kept her on. Or maybe it was her keeping me on a leash. Anyways, the pony was a mare, I could tell by her hoofsteps, and I heard her shirt blowing in the wind which made me realize she couldn't be from around here. Everypony on this island never wore clothes, it was too hot, and I could tell from her movements that I heard in the sand that she was constantly wiping sweat from her brow. "You're not from around here, are you?" I asked the mare. I could hear her shaking her head, then motioning with her hoof in the cool breeze to follow her.

What was curious about this mare was the fact that she didn't seem to talk much, and when she did it sounded like she was trying incredibly hard to. I didn't know what she looked like but I did know she was leading me to some sort of ship, Wavy always barks loudly when she sees a ship. "Shush, girl. It's okay," I told Wavy, patting her on the head before letting her continue leading me to the ship. A huge breeze swept over me as I got on, I nearly toppled off the boat. Wavy then led me down a staircase; I assumed that the mare had told her to.

The next thing I knew, the mare was tapping her hooves on the table between our chairs we were sitting in; in an intricate pattern I didn't understand. "What?" I asked her. Then it hit me, though. She was using sign language, which meant that she must be…

"Wavy, can you find me a piece of paper?" I asked. Wavy barked in reply. Soon she brought me back one, and I picked the pen she'd brought along with it up and started writing. I have exceptional hoofwriting, especially for a pony born blind. "Are you deaf?" I wrote, and then passed it over to her. She read it, and then she signed "Yes," by tapping her hoof on the table twice, quickly. From my extremely minimal knowledge of sign language, I knew what this meant and nodded an 'okay'.

There was something about this mare, something that intrigued me. Whoever owned this ship must have known I was blind, because they had set up the entire library with books in brail. I was quite happy about this, and found a copy of a book on sign language. If I was going to know this mare, I'd need to be able to speak, or in her case tap, her language.

I read the book through several times, making sure I knew every sign for everything, making absolutely sure I knew one particular one. Then the mare came into the room, I knew it was her because she didn't walk, she pranced. Her hoofsteps were light and airy, they reminded me of the waves and when she walked I couldn't bring myself not to smile a bit. I tapped out a quick "Hello," and put the book away. Then she pranced over and sat in the chair next to mine. "It's time for dinner," she tapped out. "Oh, I forgot to ask," I tapped to her, "What's your name?" "Wave Pool," she said, her voice was incredibly hoarse and desperate but that was fine by me, she was deaf after all. "Let's go," I tapped. Then we both walked out of the room, Wavy leading me.

Wavy followed the mare, and I followed Wavy. We both sat down in a couple of wooden seats, and the chefs brought some good-smelling food. I sniffed it, it was grilled celery. My favorite thing to eat for dinner. I knew it was supposed to be dinner because I knew it was night, and that was because that the waves are calmer at night and make a different sound. Also, it's always more windy at night. The soft waves gently pushed the boat this way and that, but I was accustomed to rocking on water. In fact, as I ate my plate of grilled celery, I imagined myself eating while sitting on my surfboard back at home, letting the tide pull me gently in and out. "Are you blind?" she tapped out to me, "And what's your name?" "My name is Wind Rider," I tapped out, thankfully I knew how to say my name in sign language, "And yes, I am blind."

After we finished dinner, she tapped out to me, "Let's go. I'm tired, let's get some sleep." I nodded. Then Wavy, Wave Pool and I walked out of the room to the other side of the dock and into another room, this one was warm and cozy-feeling, Wavy led me to the bed and unhooked the leash on both ends, off of my hoof and off of her neck. "Thanks, Wavy girl," I said to her, rolling over and bumping into… Wave Pool. "Sorry!" I tapped on the bed frame, "I didn't see you there!" "Well, of course you didn't see me there, you're blind, silly!" she tapped to me. I giggled a bit, and she must have known I was because she started giggling too. Unlike her normal voice, her giggle was light and airy like her hoofsteps. Feeling her mane, it was incredibly smooth and silky, it was cut short like mine but it was looser, half of her mane brushed in front and half behind. I spent an uncanny amount of time with my hooves in her mane, but she didn't seem to mind. Actually, she gave me another adorable giggle. "Do you surf?" I tapped to her, to which her head moved and I knew she must have nodded. "I have something to show you once we get there… or actually not show you but let you hear. You can hear surfing moves, can't you?" she tapped. I nodded. I felt around her mane and to her back, where I was surprised to find a pair of wings. "You're a pegasus?" I tapped to her. I felt her head move in a nod once again. I then moved her hooves around to my back. "So am I," I tapped. "It's getting cold in here, want to get under the covers?" she tapped. I nodded, and we pulled the nicely made and tucked in covers over us. In a few minutes she tapped to me, "I'm still kinda cold. Do you mind if…" then she gave me a hug. I shook my head and hugged her back and that's how we fell asleep.

I woke up to a ringing noise, and gently tapped out to Wave Pool, "I think we're here." She was already out of bed and was standing across the room. She then picked something up with her wing and gave me my board. "Is that your board?" I tapped with my front hoof on the floor once I got out of bed. "Yes," tapped Wave, "She's a pretty board. Want to feel her?" I nodded, and she turned around and prance-walked over. I grabbed the board between my front hooves, and she was right. It was a pretty board. The fin was perfectly carved; the board was perfectly shaped and sanded too. There was a small groove running down the middle of the top of the board in a perfectly straight line. "You're right, she's a pretty board," I tapped.

"Let's go," she tapped lightly, using only the tip of her hoof. Then she pranced out, and after I hooked Wavy up to the leash she led me out. We were beached, all right, and Wave stood at the entrance to the boat. "This is Equestria, the eastern coast. Just south of the border to the Griffon Kingdom," she tapped. The beach wasn't sand; it was made entirely of perfectly smooth rocks. I'd only been here once before, and I hardly remembered it.

She placed a wing around me, and I did the same. We walked wing-in-wing across the Equestrian coastline. I felt my heart beating, probably because of the excitement of being on Equestria, proper, for the second time in my life. Nonetheless, we walked to the shore, getting our hooves wet in the surf. "Wanna ride?" I tapped. "Yeah," she tapped, "Let's go. First, though, let me show you- I mean let you hear this." I heard her jump onto her board, paddle with her wings out to sea, and then stand up. Wave stood on her back hooves, front hooves and wings extended for balance, and caught a wave.

The wave was huge, but after I tuned out that noise I heard her jump off the surfboard, do a double front flip with no assistance from her now closed wings, and land back on her board. Then she rode back. "How was that?" she tapped. I responded by clapping my front hooves and stomping them on the rocks below me. "That good, huh?" she tapped. I nodded vigorously.

"Just for that," I then tapped, "Watch this." I then paddled out, caught a wave and did the same trick I'd practiced two nights ago. This time, though, I went higher than expected, and I nearly wiped out. But I flapped my right wing hard, and managed not to. "How was that one?" I tapped to her once I got back to the shore. "It was astonishing!" she tapped with great enthusiasm, "Great!"

"In fact…" she started tapping, pausing a bit before continuing, "I think you deserve…" then she stopped tapping and walked over. Wave was tense, I could tell from her lack of lightness over the rocks, and then she stopped right in front of me. Leaning forward, she gave me a small kiss on my cheek. "That's for… being nice," she tapped.


	2. A New Song

"There's a hotel to stay at for the competitors at this year's Equestrian Surfing Championships," she tapped to me, "it's right here. Tell your dog to follow me." "Follow Wave Pool, Wavy girl," I told her. Wavy barked happily and followed Wave. As I was trotting along beside her, I tapped on her shoulder and she looked over at me, so she could see me tap, "My dog's name is Wavy." "Okay," she tapped.

We walked into the hotel; I felt the soft carpet under my hooves and heard the wind through opened windows and drapes. "This is where we're staying," she tapped, although it was more difficult to hear because it was muffled by the carpet. "I know," I tapped, "I'll get us a room. Just tap out what to say and I'll say it. I doubt the receptionist knows sign language." She tapped me on the shoulder with her hoof reassuringly, and we walked together towards the desk, her hoof still wrapped around my shoulder to lead me.

Wave Pool tapped all this out for me, and I said it to the receptionist. The conversation went like this. "Hello, our names are Wind Rider and Wave Pool; we're surfers in the Equestrian Surfing Championships, Pegasus Division group C. We're checking in for the next three weeks," I said. "All right, thank you Miss Wind. Your room is #426. Here is your card key," said the receptionist, handing me a card. I took it in my mouth and put it in the outside pocket of my suitcase, which was recently brought in for me by a stallion from our ship along with Wave's suitcase.

"Want to take the elevator?" I tapped to Wave. "Nah," she tapped out, "I'd rather take the stairs." I nodded to her, and we opened the door to the stairway and closed it behind us. "Can you say something when we step up a step? If you don't, then I can't get up the stairs, I'd trip," I tapped to her. "Okay," she said hoarsely, then tapped the rest, "I'll say 'step'. Okay?" "Of course," I tapped, then we held hooves and we made our way, extremely slowly, up the four flights of stairs.

"Step," said Wave for the last step, then said, "Done." "Good job, Wave. You did great. Thanks so much," I tapped out, "Oh, and to repay you for your appreciation earlier…" Then I leaned over, put my wing around her and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, then tapped with my hoof on her front leg, "Come on. We should go to bed. It's really late, almost midnight. We only got three hours of sleep before, and we have a room to get to."

We walked down the hallway to room #426. Wavy was already at the door, barking. I pulled the card key out of my suitcase, unlocked the door and opened it wide with my wing for Wave and Wavy. Wave Pool walked inside slowly, admiring the room. I was happy she liked it, I could tell from her spinning around on the carpeted floor that she did. I took her suitcase inside as well as mine, and the door closed behind me. "We can unpack tomorrow; the Championships are in five days. That'll give us a chance to get settled in," I tapped out to her once she looked back to me, "For now, let's get to bed." "There's only one bed," she tapped back on the edge of the bed. "It's fine with me," I said, motioning for her to get in bed. I nearly tripped over Wavy's leash as I climbed into bed, and Wavy then undid the leash. "Thanks, girl," I said. Wave Pool and I climbed under the covers, which Wave had told me were beautiful. I didn't much care, they felt nice. I stretched my wings out to the sides, and wrapped my hoof around Wave to keep her warm. "Let's go to sleep," I tapped on the headboard. I felt her nod. Sooner or later, the white noise of the waves against the shore put me to sleep.

"Wind?" asked Wave hoarsely, "Wind Rider? Are you awake?" "Yeah," I tapped. "Good," she tapped back, "Do you want to go on a hike? I can tell you what I see and you can tell me what you hear." I smiled and opened my eyes, planting a kiss on her muzzle. "What was that for?" she tapped. "For a great idea," I tapped back. Then I got out of bed. "Do you want to help me get dressed?" I tapped on the hoofboard, "I have no fashion sense." "Well, of course you don't, silly!" tapped Wave, "You're blind, remember?" Mock-hitting myself in the head with my hoof, I tapped, "Oh, yeah! I forgot!"

Wave got into what felt like a lace-trimmed, fluffy saddle, and helped me into something she brought. She told me her saddle was pink, which matched her orange coat and blonde hair. She told me my saddle was red with a purple trim, to match my white coat and sky blue mane. We both put our manes in ponytails, using black hair bands. "Ready?" I tapped. "Ready," she tapped back. Then we walked out the door. We didn't bring Wavy along with us, but only because Wave would be guiding me. She managed to convince me of that much.

Right beside our hotel was the start of a hiking trail. It was about ten miles long, and it was through a gorgeous woods. I knew this much because I heard the slow hoofsteps as we walked through the forest, and I heard birds and insects and little animals. I'd heard of Fluttershy, the famous model and animal caretaker, and thought she'd love to come here. But that thought flew away along with all the others and I lost myself in the nature. "There are bright green woods and trees that are fifty feet tall. There are birds of all colors sitting on branches," tapped Wave, who was walking right beside me. "That sounds amazing," I tapped back, making sure she could see me, "There are humming noises and birdsongs and frogs. There are streams and brooks and creeks. There is clattering of boards against our hooves when we walk over wooden bridges. There is snapping of twigs when we walk over them."

This went on for several hours, talking back and forth about what we heard and heard respectively. While Wave was looking away, though, I tripped over a large rock in the path and fell flat on my muzzle. My right forehoof hurt an awful lot, but I couldn't see what I'd tripped over. I knew it was a rock because of its texture, but I couldn't hear anything because all I heard was a throbbing in my ears. I couldn't open my eyes, and although I wasn't crying per say there was a watering in my eyes.

I had no idea where I was, but there was a loud THUMP as I hit the floor. I didn't actually know what it was, it was dirt but it didn't feel like the trail, then I felt a hoof on my back and a whine. I felt a couple drops of water on my back, and knew that Wave was kneeling over me. I pulled out all my willpower just to roll over and open my eyes. I heard Wave doing exactly that, tears in her eyes. I then did something rather instinctual, took my hooves and wiped her tears away. "I'm fine," I tapped on her shoulder, and then tried to stand up. My back hooves worked fine, but my left forehoof refused to respond. I tried to walk using only three legs, but when it didn't work I tried to walk on my back hooves. That too failed, and I toppled down onto all fours before my left hoof buckling and toppling over onto my stomach again. "You need a doctor," I heard Wave tap, "Thankfully I know a bit. She reached under her saddle and pulled out a splint. "Your left forehoof is broken," she tapped, and although this was terrible news I realized I didn't use my left forehoof at all in surfing. Or at least not very much. I'd have to work on one-hoofed pushups if I was going to be able to get up off the board and into the standing position, given that my left hoof was broken. Wave had now finished the bandaging, covered it in plaster and had waited a minute or two for it to dry before taking a small pen and signing it. "Get well soon," it said, she wrote more with her mouth, "Love, Wave Pool." Then she drew a tiny heart next to the last word.

She packed up all her things, and I tapped out, "Thanks, Wave." "Here, you can walk on your back hooves if you either have a lot of momentum or have somepony holding you up, so…" she tapped before standing up on her back hooves and putting her wing around me, tapping "Here, this should help. I need to work on my posture anyways," with her back hoof. Then we started walking again.

Every thirty feet or so one of us would wobble, but then the other would grasp the first one's hoof a little tighter and we would stay upright. We went the rest of the full circle around the trail like this, looking and hearing but not tapping anymore, having no open hooves to do so with. We walked out the exit, across the lawn, in through the back door of the hotel, up the elevator, and to our room. I then collapsed on the bed, lying on my back on top of the covers. Wave came up on the bed too and sat between my back legs. "What are you doing, Wave?" I tapped on the headboard. She heard me do this, and tapped with her back hoof on the hoofboard, "I'm putting a support around your back hoof. You pulled your hamstring." "I what?" I tapped back, astounded. "You pulled both your hamstrings. I'm supporting them for you. I have the equipment on me now," tapped Wave.

Once she was done, I ached a lot. My forehoof hurt, my back hooves hurt, and I motioned with the only hoof that wasn't damaged for Wave to come over and lay with me. I was sprawled across the entirety of the bed, and apparently not wanting me to move she lay on top of my right hoof and wrapped her back leg around mine. I felt incredibly tired but less hurting, and managed to doze off.

I woke up with a heavy feeling on my chest, like a weight was pressing down on me. I opened my eyes instinctually but it didn't help any, then I opened my ears. That helped a great deal, I heard the steady breathing of Wave Pool, and it sounded really close.

It was then I realized that Wave was on top of me, and I tapped a "Good Morning, Wave," on her shoulder. She woke up, hugged me really tight and then rolled over onto the floor. Thankfully she caught herself with her wings, and sat down on the floor beside the bed. I heard her shift her tail around on the carpet nervously, and she tapped on the bed frame, "Are you okay?" I tapped my right hoof on the frame twice, quickly, which she knew meant "Yes." "Are you sure?" she tapped, tilting her head to the side as her forelock was swept across her face. I heard that, and tapped my hoof on the headboard quickly twice again. She smiled; I could hear her sing a low, solitary note as she did so. "You have a beautiful voice," I tapped, "Can you sing?" "No, but I can hum. Here, let me hum you a song," she tapped back to me, getting back on the bed and sitting there beside me. Then she hummed the first couple of chords in "For a United Equestria".

Once she finished the song, I tapped on the headboard, "Hey, Wave? Can you hum again? I'd like to sing with you." She tapped out a "Yes, absolutely," and started humming. I both sung and tapped out the lyrics in Old Equestrian for the song, and when we finished she tapped to me, "Why'd you tap the lyrics?" "Because I wanted you to hear them too," I said. "Oh…" she said, blushing a bit. I could only tell because I heard her forelock shift when she moved her head back and she made the same low but absolutely adorable sound when she smiled. "I never heard the lyrics before…" she tapped. "You never heard anything before…" I tapped, "Which reminds me, how did you learn to sing- I mean, how did you learn to hum?"

She tapped back, "I wasn't born deaf. I became that way when I was three. That's how I can speak, but not very much. I learned sign language at four. My mother was a singer, a professional one at that. She's gone now, but I remember her singing to me. That was her favorite song, and I've grown fond of it. She loved Old Equestrian songs, and so I learned Old Equestrian too. She hummed it to me for a lullaby. But shortly after I turned six, she left. So I've been humming it ever since to keep her with me."

"Wow." I tapped, saying it at the same time. "It's okay," she said musically, keeping her beautiful voice. "That's only one of the three songs I know. Want to know the other two?" she tapped. "Of course, what are they?" I tapped back. "My favorite pony, other than you that is," she started tapping, I couldn't help but smile at this though, "Is Rainbow Dash. Therefore, I made sure I knew this song, it's called Loyalty. Want to hear it?" I nodded. Then she started humming, walked over to get her surfboard, and played air guitar on her surfboard. I laughed as she did this, but I heard her hoof strumming against the grain of the wood in the board and it sounded a good bit like a real guitar. After that I just smiled and listened to her sing, not hum this time, but sing, the words to Loyalty.

"THAT'S WHY THEY CALL ME LOYALTY!" we exclaimed at the end, I'd joined in after the second verse. Wave Pool put her surfboard down, and then tapped to me, "Was that good?" "You must have been incredibly smart when you were three if you could have memorized that entire thing by then," I tapped. "I didn't," she tapped back, "I only knew the first verse. I imagined how the tune would go after reading the lyrics written out for me." "Wow," I tapped back. She smiled again, and I couldn't help but smile too. She turned around in the bed and gave me a hug. "I should probably work on one-hoofed pushups," I tapped to her on the bed frame. "Good idea," she tapped back to me, "I can help you. But actually, I have a better idea. I heard of a new exercise, one that you could use to push off your surfboard. When you're pushing off, you're through with paddling out with your wings, right? Well, you can push off with your wings. The exercise is called wing-ups, they're really hard but I think it's our only viable option, one-hoofing it wouldn't help and wouldn't get you up all the way."

"Okay, I'll try it," I tapped to her, walking on my back hooves over and extending my wings in front of me. I let myself down slowly onto three legs, and then I picked up my right front hoof. My wings nearly buckled under me, I'd nearly never worked out other than surfing and I'd never flown before in my life. I clenched my teeth, squinted my eyes, and did one. I did, in fact, know what going to failure was, and although it hurt I kept going. Probably the only thing keeping me going was the sound of Wave Pool's singing. She sung the lyrics to "For a United Equestria," then she sung "Loyalty".

"Thirty-seven, thirty-eight, thirty-nine…" I thought to myself, and then I heard Wave sing the lyrics to "Ponies like us" by Filly Clarkson. I heard her, and she sounded even better than the original. I sung it in my head as I counted, singing along with her gorgeous voice.

"Hey,

Everypony loses it; everypony wants to throw it all away sometimes,

And hey… yeah I know what you're going through  
don't let it get the best of you, you'll make it out alive  
Oh

Ponies like us we've gotta stick together  
Keep your head up, nothing lasts forever  
Here's to the damned, to the lost and forgotten  
It's hard to get high when you're living on the bottom

Oh whoa oh, oh whoa oh  
We are all misfits living in a world on fire  
Oh whoa oh, oh whoa oh  
Sing it for the ponies like us, the ponies like us…"

"Sixty-seven, sixty-eight, sixty-nine…" I thought, and then I abruptly crashed to the floor. Wave finished the end of the song by now, and I tried to get back up, but my wings remained unresponsive. I tucked them back in to my sides. "Well," I tapped to Wave, "That's failure. Thanks for the motivation." "You're very welcome, Wind," she tapped back. "Well," I tapped definitively, taking off my saddle and walking over on my back hooves to the bed and collapsing, "sixty-nine is pretty good."

"I agree," tapped Wave, turning the AC on max and walking over on her back hooves to the bed, "but can you move over a bit?" "Of course," I tapped back, moving over. I could sense her looking at me, I didn't mind, though. "Can you share some of your furnace with me, Wind?" asked Wave Pool. "Of course," I tapped, opening my hooves and hugging her. "Better?" I tapped. She nuzzled my cheek, and tapped on the side of the bed frame, "Better."

The next three days went by quickly, I got up to doing 200 wing-ups a day, and my left hoof is feeling better now. I got to have it out of the cast that day. "Okay, hold still," tapped Wave on my shoulder. I kept my hoof perfectly still, and she undid the cast. Once she was done, she felt my hoof gently with hers. I managed to suppress a giggle as she continued feeling around. It tickled, and I was relieved when she was done. "So, is it done?" I tapped with my other hoof. "Yep," she tapped to me, "Try to tap something to me with your left hoof. It's mended; at least that's what it feels like." "Okay," I tapped with my left hoof, and then continued to tap out, "Hey! It worked!"

Wave smiled, hugged me and tapped "I thought it would," on my shoulder. "I have you to thank for it," I tapped back, still using my left hoof and trying to get used to doing so. Wave smiled again, it didn't seem like she was currently able to stop and I couldn't blame her. Then she helped me up. I stood on three legs, and then gently put down my left forehoof with the assistance of Wave. "Are you all right, Wind?" she tapped. I nodded, and tapped, "Can I try walking?" "Sure," she tapped, "But you should be careful." "I will," I tapped back, and then put my weight onto my right side first.

I walked really slowly, and put my weight onto my left side next. I put my weight onto my back left hoof primarily, slowly putting weight onto my front hoof. Surprisingly, I was only greeted with a small ache when I pressed my full weight on it. "It was only a hairline fracture, that's why it took so little time to heal fully," tapped Wave, "also, I've read some research papers on the subject, one of them conducted by Princess Twilight Sparkle no less, on pegasi and how they heal, pegasi seem to heal at least 3 times faster than any other pony type." "Well, we are sure lucky," I tapped, planting a kiss on her forehead, "We're pegasi!"

"It's only two more days until the competition," I tapped to her, "What are we going to do now?" "Well, do you want to go out for dinner?" she asked me. I looked out the window, it was almost dark out and Celestia's sun was setting over the horizon. "I'm kind of sick of eating dinner at this hotel, too," I tapped back, "But I don't have enough bits!" "It's all right," tapped Wave with a smile, "I've got a bunch." I heard her pull a bag of bits out of her saddlebag, making a jingling noise. "How many bits do you HAVE?" I tapped, to which she replied, "About two hundred, last I checked. This is all I've got; I brought it along because I wanted to have a nice time here. Now come on, let's go."


	3. A Kiss from the Sea

We walked, admittedly slowly, inland. As it got colder we put wings around each other. We arrived at the restaurant shortly after it got dark; it was about 8:00 p.m. We sat at a table outside, I heard the idle chatter of maybe five or six ponies, and it was incredibly quiet for a restaurant. I heard the waitmare come over, she said to us, "Hello, my name is Windy Breeze, I'll be waiting on you tonight, what may I get for you?" She was talking to Wave Pool, I could hear her, and I signed to her by tapping her back hoof with mine under the table, "The waitress is talking to you. She asks what you want. Sign it to me?" "I'll have a water, a daisy burger and a side of clover," she signed to me the same way. This I told to the waitress, saying that I'd be ordering for her because that she's deaf. The waitress apologized for not realizing this, and asked idly how I knew what she wanted. "She's a good friend," I said signing the entire conversation quickly to Wave under the table so she could be in on it also, "And we're signing to each other. I'd like a water also, and I'll have grilled celery stalks with a side of hay fries."

I heard the waitmare brush a few idle strands of her forelock back into her tidy ponytail and walk off, saying back to us, "I'll get your drinks for you." "Thanks," she signed to me. "No problem," I tapped back, putting my elbows on the table and resting my chin on my hooves. I heard Wave do the same. I heard the waitmare approaching our table, and heard the distinctive noise of magic as she set our water glasses beside us. "Your food will be out as soon as it's ready," she said. I signed this to Wave.

"So," I signed to Wave, trying to make conversation, "Could you describe some of your moves to me?" "Can I, yes," she signed back, tapping on my back hoof, "Do I want to, no. I'd rather let you hear them for the first time when we're back in the sea." I smiled, closing my eyes just for the sake of the emotion. I heard her fooling around with her mane, I wondered why she was doing that but then the waitmare came with our food. "Our food's here," I signed to Wave, smiling. "I know," she signed back, "I'm not blind, just deaf." Then she giggled. I heard the waitmare sigh, and then she levitated our plates in front of us.

"Thank you," I told the waitmare, "I'm sorry you can't hear us signing. I told her that our food was here, and she told me, 'I'm not blind, just deaf.' That's what was funny." "Oh…" the waitmare said, smiling, "Well, enjoy your food. Tell me if you need anything." "What'd you tell her?" signed Wave Pool, she was eating her food, and I could hear her. "Just what we said earlier," I signed back, "Is your food all right?" "It's great," she signed back, "Not as great as you, but…" "The flattery is not necessary, but much appreciated," I signed. She giggled. And we continued eating in silence. Well, really we'd been eating in silence the entire time; sign language doesn't make much noise when you do it like this.

We finished our meals, Wave Pool finished first and I finished not long after. The waitmare came by and asked, "Are you done with those, and could I interest either of you in a dessert this evening?" "Absolutely and absolutely," I said, signing for Wave to tell me what she wanted for dessert. She told me we should split a slice of cloud cake, I agreed and told the waitmare that. "What did I just order?" I signed to her. "Cloud cake. It's really good; I had it once when I lived in Cloudsdale. It's made with clouds, they sweeten it and the sugar weighs it down so it stays on the plate. Then they heavily frost it with meringue, that's the best part. The whole cake is REALLY tall, and it's divided by the meringue into six sections, each with a different color of the rainbow," she described to me. "How long does it take to make this stuff?!" I signed back. "About five minutes," she signed back, "But it's literally impossible to not have fresh cloud cake. It goes bad after six hours exactly, the famous baker Pinkie Pie tested it."

The waitmare brought a plate holding a single, ridiculously tall slice of cake on it, and set it in the middle of the table with her magic. "There you go," she said, to which I replied with a thank you. Then I picked up a fork, it had tines that were really close together and were really long, slightly longer than the slice of cake was tall. I felt all of this with my hooves, then let Wave take the first bite. She stuck the fork in the end of the cake and took a really long piece of the cake. I did the same, and we each ate every single color separately. It was light, fluffy and tasted vaguely like marshmallows. "Good?" she signed to me, a plus side of sign language is that it's still understandable when the other pony's mouth is full. I nodded, taking another bite of the cake. I knew which colors were which because that Wave described them to me as we ate in sync. Purple tasted vaguely of grape, blue of blueberry, green of lime, yellow of lemon, orange of, well, orange, and red of strawberry.

We finished the cloud cake incredibly quickly, and when we were done the waitmare brought the check. "Fifteen bits is your total," she said. I signed this to Wave; she placed fifteen bits on the counter. "There you go," she signed to me, which I told the waitmare. Then I signed to ask Wave's permission to sign, she signed that I could and I signed the paper. "You have remarkable hoofwriting for a blind mare," she signed to me as I handed the check back to the waitmare. "Thanks," I signed back.

We walked back to our room, and I walked in. Wave was standing on her back hooves, balancing there with her eyes closed. I walked over on my back hooves, knowing how to do this properly from the four days my left hoof was broken. I tapped on her shoulder, "What are you doing?" "I'm trying to balance," she tapped on my back hoof with her back hoof, "Want to help me? You're better at it than me…" "Of course," I said, smiling. She held my forehooves with hers and wrapped one of her back legs around mine to stabilize herself. Suddenly, she wobbled, and couldn't catch herself with her wings because she was falling forward. She opened her mouth to warn me but fell too fast, I didn't recognize what was happening in time either. She fell over, but I held myself and her up just enough for her to fall forwards onto me without us toppling onto the floor. My eyes as well as hers were still closed, but I felt my muzzle touching… something. It was warm, I knew that much, and although before I had instinctually closed my eyes and ears, I opened my ears again to hear Wave's breath against my face.

She was breathing through her nose, and although I couldn't see I knew exactly what was happening. Wave was kissing me. If this was some sort of weird accident or anything else I didn't know, but soon she started tapping my back leg with hers. "I'm sorry," she tapped, "I fell over. Do you…" I gently shook my head side to side. "No, I don't mind," I tapped back, "I can help you up if you want…" "No," she tapped on my hoof, "You're warm."

We stood there for five minutes, and then she tapped, "We should go to bed." "I can arrange that," I tapped back, flapped my now very muscular wings and lifted both of us onto the soft bed. "Wow," she signed to me, "You're really strong. All that conditioning must have paid off." I nodded gently. I pulled the covers over us with my wing, and we dozed off.


	4. Two Kinds of Warm-Ups

It was the day of the Championships. I woke up with Wave, it was really early but we had a wakeup call from the reception desk, I imagined all the surfers had this. "Wave Pool? Are you awake?" I tapped on her shoulder, her eyes immediately snapped open and she bolted upright. "What time is it?" she tapped frantically on the bed frame. "It's 5:33. We've got seven minutes to get our boards and get downstairs for breakfast. The competition starts at 9:00, but I figured we should be up early for a warm-up." Sighing that we had some time, she lay down softly and tapped on the headboard, "I've got all the warm-up I need." She skimmed a hoof across my chest; I tried as hard as I could to keep my wings still. She smiled and hummed a few bars of "For a United Equestria" to me, and tapped, "Come with me, Wind. I have something for you."

We walked over to her suitcase; she opened the outside pocket and pulled something out. She gave it to me, and signed to me by tapping on my shoulder, "It's a pair of goggles. You can use them when you surf… to keep the spray out of your eyes. You have gorgeous eyes; they match your mane…" I managed to put them on with some assistance from Wave. "How do they look?" I signed to her, tapping her forehoof with mine. "They look great, the gold rims really suit you," she tapped back.

"You've got your board?" she signed me. I nodded, pointing my hoof to the board tucked under my wing. I noticed how huge my wings were, rather belatedly. "You have yours?" I asked with no rhetoric whatsoever, given that I couldn't see it. She brushed her cheek against mine and nodded. "Yeah," she signed, confirming that. "Let's go to breakfast, then," I tapped to her. "Good idea," she tapped back. Then I leashed up Wavy and she led me to the elevator, we rode down to the first floor and hung a left into the dining room. There was a breakfast buffet that had been set up; it was 5:40 when we walked out of our room. That gave us 20 minutes before we should be up at the shore, which was less than a minute away from the hotel. I grabbed a bagel and a glass of orange juice, Wave coincidentally did the same. We sat down at a table for two near another couple tables, almost all of which were full with surfers talking. "Isn't it funny we got the same thing for breakfast?" Wave signed to me under the table, tapping her back hoof on mine. To this I responded by simply smiling, that seemed to be enough for Wave. Wavy was sitting near the table, eating a half a biscuit I'd given her for her breakfast.

After breakfast, Wave, Wavy and I walked out to the shore with our surfboards. "You said last night that you wanted me to hear the new surfing moves once we were in the ocean. Well, here we are," I tapped on the rocks to her. "I know," she tapped back, turning around, "Here you go." She jumped on her board and paddled out using her wings. She pushed off and stood up, caught a large wave and deliberately caught herself in the undertow. She let her board go under, jumped off, and once her board surfaced she landed back on it. She rode back, and then paddled out again for another trick. This time, she stood up and caught an even larger one, that kind where it crashes over you and you can ride through the tunnel. She rode through the tunnel, but not on her back hooves. She rode on her board upside-down, on her front hooves. She balanced pristinely, and she then, finally, rode all the way back in.

"How was that?" tapped Wave. "It was amazing!" I tapped back, giving her a hug. "Can I show you something I learned, too?" I tapped to her. She tapped out a quick, "Yes," and out to sea I paddled. I got up with my wings, but instead of getting all the way up I flapped my wings and took off. I let the surfboard ride the entirety of the wave, then I dropped back onto it toward the end and steered it out of the tunnel the wave had created. I heard Wave whistle loudly, and once I got back she tapped, "That was AMAZING!" "It was nothing compared to yours, you had the call to stand on your front hooves and balance through that entire wave. That's what I call impressive," I tapped back. Wave was rather happy about this, and she hugged me. "Do well at the competition, okay?" she tapped. "Break a leg," I tapped. We giggled to each other, and she gave me a kiss. Then I heard some hoofsteps, but they definitely weren't Wave's.

"Look what we've got here," said the gruff voice, "a couple of fillyfoolers." Although Wave Pool whimpered a bit, I stood up for her. However I knew that protesting would only make things worse, and winked to wave with the eye that I knew the stallion couldn't see. I tapped on her front hoof, "Play along. I'll sign everything to you." She gave a small nod.

"Aw, you found out already?" I started, turning to face the stallion and tapping the entire thing out with my back hoof, "It was supposed to be a secret!" The stallion looked confused, and then I continued, "Well, I guess our secret's broken, Wave." I used a morose, almost fully depressed, tone, and Wave hung her head and nodded. "Well, that's all right, we were going to tell them anyways," I said. The stallion was even more confused, Wave tapped that all to me gently on the rocks, but it must have looked to them that she was simply being either sad or shy, or maybe both. Then I stood up on my back hooves and motioned for Wave to do the same, and we kissed. By now the stallion was incredibly confused and a bit grossed out, Wave knew this and told me through her squinted eyes. He walked off; I heard his hoofsteps and his mumbling, although I barely made out an "Okay, sheesh," from him as he trotted off.

"Thanks, Wave," I tapped to her. "No problem," she tapped back to me. "It's almost 9:00. Our event's at 9:45, do you want to surf until the competition starts at 9:00?" I tapped. "Good idea," she tapped back. She gave me a small hug, tapping on my shoulder, "That's for standing up for me. Remind me to remember how to do that later, I'll probably need it." Then she paddled out for another round of moves.

"Wind!" I heard Wave shouting out to me. I knew it was time to get off the sea, the competition probably started soon. I did one last move and then rode back to the shore. "Thanks for calling me back, Wave," I tapped. She smiled and hugged me, tapping, "No problem," on my shoulder, "Now, let's do some stretching and warm-ups. We should do some running to get our heart rates up." I nodded, and we galloped back and forth along a few miles of surf, did some push-ups and wing-ups, and then stretched out.


	5. An Unfortunate Event

By this time it was around 9:40, and we grabbed our boards. "PEGASUS DIVISION: GROUP C. PLEASE GRAB YOUR BOARDS AND GET READY FOR YOUR EVENT," I heard over the loudspeakers. "Come on, Wave, let's go. You're first in the event," I tapped on her forehoof, "Break a leg!" She giggled, said, "I'll try not to," and paddled out. "COMING FROM FILLYDELPHIA, PLEASE WELCOME WAVE POOL!" I heard the announcer exclaim, erupting a huge round of hoof-stamping and whooping from the audience. Then there was silence, excepting the sound of the waves. They were pretty big, but I knew Wave could handle them. She stood up, did her signature double front flip, landed, and received a round of applause. She looked back at me briefly, I could feel it. Then I heard something odd…

It sounded like a huge wave was coming. I knew she couldn't hear me if I shouted to her, and I wasn't allowed to go out during her performance. I simply gritted my teeth and waited. I heard her paddling further out, she stood up and…

I took off. Wave had just gone under, and she was way too far out for any lifeguard to do anything about it nearly as fast as I could. I had complete confidence, and about two miles out I stopped. Sounds are incredibly amplified underwater, I knew this. I took a deep breath, and dove. I tuned out the sound of the waves crashing overhead, listening for any sound from Wave. I heard a gargling noise; it was coming from directly behind me. I turned around and located the noise. Running out of air quicker than I expected, I felt around desperately with my hooves and wings, then I hit something. It had to be Wave. I didn't have time to do much, so I grabbed around her waist with my forehooves and flapped my wings once more, pulling us at an incredible rate out of the sea. We weren't much above the waves, but we were about fifty feet above where the sea level would normally be. I gasped for air, my wings burned but I didn't care. My back hooves dragged in the waves until I beat my wings once more and was above them. Wave was coughing up seawater, and her back was wrenched in a strange position that I didn't know was even possible for ANY pony. I flew as quickly as I could back to shore.

I placed Wave on her back, on the rocks, and she emitted a low groan as I did so. I felt something on my hooves. It was only after the adrenaline rush faded that I realized what it was: Wave was bleeding. "I NEED A DOCTOR! IS THERE A DOCTOR ANYWHERE?!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, holding Wave's hoof between mine. I heard a lifeguard gallop over, stop beside Wave and say, "Her spine is broken. She's paralyzed… and her wings are broken also. "WE NEED A STRETCHER OVER HERE!" she shouted. Two ponies came over, the lifeguard hoisted Wave onto the stretcher, and she motioned for me to back away. "She needs air, all right?" she told me, not angrily but with urgency. I galloped alongside the stretcher as they did, going towards the hospital, and I told her, "I'm… I'm her marefriend. I need to be there for her." The lifeguard apparently accepted this answer, and she let me continue to gallop alongside Wave's stretcher. They burst through the doors of the hospital; I followed behind as they brought her onto another stretcher and hooked her up to an IV. They brought her into a room, transferred her to yet another bed, rolled her over, and bandaged up her wounded wings. "I NEED SOME HELP OVER HERE!" yelled a nurse who had bolted in. Suddenly, a stallion who was obviously a doctor said, "We're going to need a spinal cast, none of the major arteries are broken, we're not going to have to do any surgery right now. Just put her wings and back in a cast," here I heard him feeling around at Wave's back hooves, "her hooves and legs are fine. I estimate she'll recover from her paralysis in about three days."


	6. To Canterlot!

I was utterly shocked when I heard those words. "She's going to be paralyzed for three days?!" I asked the doctor. "Looks like it," he told me. "But the competition's still going!" I exclaimed. I heard a TV click on, and a newspony say, "Bad news from the Equestrian Surfing Championships: A storm broke out shortly after the beginning of the Pegasus Division, Group C. One surfer was seriously injured, but afterwards officials have recognized the storm and no more injuries have occurred. The competition as a whole has been postponed for one week, until on-location pegasi can handle the situation." Then the TV was turned off. I heard the doctor continue, "But she may not ever make a full recovery. We've only covered some of her bleeding, the rest is internal. We may have to do surgery, but not as of now. Her major arteries are in working order, but she has serious internal bleeding in her back legs." "She… may not recover?" I asked, my voice wavering as I tried to hold back tears. "I'm not positive, but it doesn't look good for her," he said, "The best thing we can do is wait." "How long until we'll be positive about it?" I asked. "About two weeks," he said. Then he walked out of the room, taking the nurse with him.

"Wave…" I said to nopony in particular as I walked over and sat morosely at her bedside, "I'm so sorry…" Then a thought flashed through my mind like a bolt of lightning, striking my brain. I remembered a book I'd read a little while back. It said that Princess Twilight had previously cast incredibly high-level spells, such as time travel spells, and was capable of spells of much higher quantities, such as age spells, duplication spells and healing spells. Healing spells… healing spells… that's it! If I could manage to get my hooves on the Princess, then I could get her to help Wind for me! I knew that the Princess would be in Canterlot that is where she lives after all. The only problem is that Canterlot is all the way across Equestria, I didn't know if I could make it. I really didn't want them to have to do surgery, that'd impact her flying and surfing forever, if she ever managed to get back. I knew that doctors are very stubborn, so that I had to be back in two weeks and I wasn't sure I could get all the way across Equestria, diagonally for that matter, in that time. I was on the southern end of the east coast; Canterlot is on the tallest and farthest north mountain in the Western Mountain Range.

I wouldn't know unless I tried to get across the distance, though. It was the only way. I knew that you could die from internal bleeding also, she already ruptured two arteries and I didn't want any permanent damage. That shortened my time limit to two days. But time was a-wasting, and I took off, crashing through the window and flying directly northwest towards Canterlot.

I was constantly blinking the tears out of my eyes, thinking about Wave and also going so fast. My mane and tail were flapping in the wind, my wings still burned from my earlier feat.

And I flew even faster.

I saw the far-south town of Fillydelphia, and I looked down on Wave's home town with shame. How could I possibly neglect to be more of a help to the pony who was raised here?

And I flew even faster just to escape the sight of it.

I flew higher too, above the cloud layer. The air was thinner and there weren't very many clouds below me, but I kept pushing.

And I flew even faster.

I felt a burning in my front hooves, probably because they were extended in front and catching all of the friction as I parted the air. I felt like I was being stretched through a tunnel, my wings were flapping as fast as they possibly could.

And I flew even faster.

I felt my back hooves being pushed together, but I didn't care. I flew over Baltimare, then flew not too much farther and passed Ponyville.

And I flew even faster.

My wings burned as I flew over Cloudsdale. I saw the gorgeous rainbow falls and thought of Wave's favorite pony.

And I flew even faster.

I thought of the mythical sonic rainboom, that had first been performed by that very pony in this very city, I blinked one last tear out of my eyes and set a determined look on the clouds in front of me. "This one's for you, Wave," I whispered, although I knew she couldn't hear me… I was being stretched like a piece of taffy. And then….

I heard a booming noise that echoed through the sky, flying suddenly became incredibly easy and I no longer felt the burning in my hooves and wings. I effortlessly soared through the sky, forgetting about everything. I looked behind me, and I gasped in awe. I'd performed a sonic rainboom. Or, it wasn't exactly a rainboom. It felt like something else, I felt like I was flying through silk. Flying through perfectly serene water. It was what I'd thought it was: it was a sonic windboom. I still didn't smile. I was still thinking about Wind. I passed Manehattan, and I knew I was getting close to Canterlot. I saw the mountain range in the distance. "Canterlot, here I come…" I whispered, a hint of fear still lingering in my voice and in my mind.

I didn't put my wings out to slow down, that'd break them clean off. I leaned back, putting all four hooves out in front. I slowed down slowly, and I landed on the highest balcony in Canterlot Castle. As the adrenaline rushed away, my wings ached like they never had before, and they felt as if they were on fire. I didn't have the strength to fold them, and as such they hung limply at my sides, dragging on the floor. I felt soft, almost cloud-like carpeting beneath my hooves, I hung my head low simply because that I didn't have the energy to keep it up. I kept my ears open for any hoofsteps, and I walked down the long hallway. I looked up and saw a bright purple door, and I knew it must be the Princess's. I knocked on the door, and then somepony opened it.


	7. A Strange Meeting

"Hello?" asked a cheerful voice. "Princess?" I asked. She didn't sound used to the title, and said, "Please, just call me Twilight." "Okay, Twilight," I said, smiling for the first time since Wave had been injured, but it only lasted for a second as I remembered why I was here. "I need to talk to you about something," I said. "My friend…" I started, before stopping and starting over, "My marefriend… She's injured, badly. She's broken both wings and her spine; she had serious internal bleeding in her back legs. The doctor is going to put down his verdict about whether or not she needs surgery in two weeks, but I felt her legs and she recently burst a serious artery in her right back leg. She has MAYBE two days left before she's essentially lost her leg." Twilight was incredibly shocked by this; I could hear her gasping at various parts in my explanation. Her logical mind apparently taking over, though, she said, "All right, what can I do to help you?"

"I read in a book about you and your friends that you're capable of healing spells…" I started, belatedly wondering if she'd be okay with doing this, but continuing nonetheless, "and I was wondering if you could come over to the southeastern Equestrian shore to help her by doing one for her." Twilight then placed her horn on my forehead. "What are you doing?" I asked. "Getting us there. Think of the place you want us going," she said. "Uh… okay…" I said, not knowing why this would help but thinking about the hospital room, forming the image in my head. "Got it!" exclaimed Twilight. "Got what?" I asked, but she didn't respond. Instead, she placed her horn on my wing for some reason, and closed her eyes. I felt a strong surge of… something; I think it was magic, running through my wings. It then engulfed me completely, and I felt the same stretching sensation as I did right before the rainboom, then I felt and heard nothing.

I opened my ears to hear the breathing of three ponies. One was me, one was apparently Twilight, who still had her horn on my back, and one was… I felt a similar ground beneath my hooves as I did in the hospital room. I heard Twilight say, "We're here!" It had to be the hospital room, and the third pony was Wave. She was the only one in the room, the other bed was empty. I yanked back the drapes around her bed, and then said to Twilight, "That's her. Can you help?" All I got from Twilight was a "hmm…" an aura of magic and a clicking of metal. "On this clipboard it says everything you just told me, and I felt her right back leg, you're right. I don't know if I can… but I'll try and fix this." Suddenly there was a beeping noise from the monitor I knew was above her bed. In only a few seconds there was a rush of noise, voices shouting various things including, "CODE BLUE!" and "I NEED SOME DEFIBRILATORS OVER HERE!"

"What's 'code blue' mean?" I asked Twilight. "It means…" she started, stuttering with worry in her voice, "That her heart stopped." I was shocked instantly when I realized what this meant. Trying desperately not to panic, I searched my memory frantically for something, ANYTHING that might help. Ponies were surrounding Wave's bed, one was holding two objects connected to cords that looked like irons, another was shouting, "GO!" with short pauses in between. "Wait!" I shouted, but they didn't hear me. "WAIT!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, but they still didn't hear me. Twilight put a hoof in front of me, stood up, clear her lungs, expanded her wings and shouted in the Royal Canterlot Voice, "WAIT!" All the ponies turned to look at her, and they stopped what they were doing and bowed to the Princess, who galloped over to Wave and motioned for me to do the same. Wave wasn't breathing anymore and her monitor was still beeping. Her body wasn't very warm, and it was getting cold quickly.

"Extend your wings," Twilight told me. I did as I was told, I didn't question it. She placed her horn at the base of my wing, at the largest wing-joint. I felt an even stronger magical surge, and I felt a rush of warm as if hot water was being dumped on me, it stemmed from my wing outward and I felt like collapsing, but I stayed on my hooves. The magical surge continued, I heard a few ponies gasping in awe. I suddenly didn't see black anymore, I saw a bright white light. It was incredibly strange, I never felt anything like it before and although I wasn't flapping my wings I felt like I was floating. In fact, I was. I wasn't touching anything other than Twilight. I wasn't breathing, but I didn't feel short on air. I think the magic was compensating for that. I felt one last, full-scale, gigantic magical surge and then…


	8. Almost Nothing

Nothingness.

I was sitting back on the floor. I wasn't exhausted, and I felt myself breathing again. "Did it work?" asked Twilight. Suddenly I realized what had been happening before. My heart was just about to hammer itself out of my chest as I walked over to Wave. I placed an ear on her chest. At first I heard nothing. My heart just about dropped into my stomach, but then I heard something.

A tiny thumping noise, barely audible but still there. The beeping noise from the monitor ceased, and I held by breath. I felt her chest moving, and I heard a tiny breath, then a couple, steadier, louder, and then a soft groan. I got up, and I heard her voice, however faint, calling me. I held her hoof between mine and tapped on it, "I'm here, Wave." "Wind?" I heard her groan, she sat up a tiny bit and looked over at me. She tapped on my shoulder, "What happened?" I sighed, then signed out the entire story to her.

"YOU DID A SONIC WINDBOOM?!" she tapped with great enthusiasm, then let out a groan and sank back in her bed. "Wow," she said softly. I nodded. Twilight walked over, and having apparently recognized the sign language, signed a quick hello to Wave, then tapped, "Your marefriend told me a lot about you." "My…" she said, then threw her hooves around my neck. Her wings, thankfully healed from the spell, popped off her back. We shared a short but enthusiastic kiss, and by the end of it everypony was smiling. Nopony knew quite what to say, but then a greenish flame appeared and out from it a scroll materialized. Twilight grasped it in her magic, unrolled it and read. It took her about two seconds to read the entire thing, and she gasped toward the end. She rolled it back up, set it on the bedside table and said, "Oh, no." "What is it?" I asked. "The Changeling Queen has returned," Twilight said dramatically. "I've read about that," tapped Wave on the bed frame, "She was banished before by the power of love, created by Princess Mi Amore Cadenza," at this time Twilight whispered something, it sounded like she'd said, "Cadence," but Wave continued tapping, "and Prince Shining Armor," and Twilight murmured something even quieter so that I couldn't make out what she was saying. "It is said that as she was being tossed out of the castle by the powerful magic, she shouted out to the kingdom of Canterlot that she swore revenge on Equestria, and that she would strike again someday," Wave continued. "But since my brother and sister-in-law defeated her last time, she would probably have been resistant if not immune to that type of magic," Twilight thought out loud, "We need another type of magic, but the Elements are designed to target a single pony, not an entire army. Also, the Elements don't harm, they can imprison or reform at best. So we need a different kind of magic, she would be resistant to Shining's protection spell, so what could she not be resistant to?"

Through this entire process, I was listening and tapping it to Wave. I'd been thinking about what may work, then I thought of something. What if the reason Twilight had put her horn on my wing while casting the spell was because that pegasi have magic, too? What if the reason that I barely flapped my wings at all while in the process of the windboom was that I didn't need to? What if I could do a certain amount of magic with Wave helping me? What if…

"Twilight," I said to her, "Could we help?" She seemed to go through same thought process that I did, but much faster. "Yes…" she started not even a minute later, "I think you two could do something, but I'll have to figure out a position in which you're interlocking wings so that the magic has the most potential." "Is it okay for Wave to get out of bed?" I asked. "Yes," said Twilight. I nodded, and flew up. I lifted Wave by the front hooves down out of the bed, and Twilight asked, "How can you do that?" Smiling, I said matter-of-factly, "I work out." "How many wing-ups a day?" she asked. "400," I said, "Why? Is that not enough?" "Whoa…" Twilight said. "You're doing more than Rainbow Dash did at your age."

"Anyways," started Twilight again, "Yes, she can walk now. She probably can fly just fine, too." "I… I don't fly…" Wave tapped shyly. "Wave?" I tapped to her, "Mirror me, okay?" I got up on my back hooves and put my wings out in front. Wave did the same, and I felt her wings over mine. "Is this good?" I asked Twilight, who tapped on both my shoulder and Wave's, "Yes, that's good. That'll do fine." She then stood up on her back hooves, she seemed incredibly comfortable doing so for some reason, and placed her horn between us. "I'll get us to Canterlot," she tapped to both of us. We nodded almost in sync.

I felt the now familiar stretching sensation, but since it was probably Wave's first time I held her a bit tighter as we teleported. She held my hooves a bit tighter, too, and soon I felt the soft carpeting of the Canterlot Castle underneath my hooves. "Here we are," said Twilight, which I tapped to Wave. We both dropped onto all four legs and walked with Twilight up to Princess Celestia's room. "Celestia?" Twilight asked, knocking at the door which had a sun painted on it. I heard Celestia open the door. "Oh, hello, Twilight, please come in," then I felt the Princess's gaze upon me and Wave. "Your friends?" she asked Twilight, to which she must have responded with something affirmative for the Princess then said, "All right, they may come in also."

"Luna hasn't been acting the same recently, that's what I sent you in my letter," said the Princess, sitting down on her bed and having us sit on some sort of really fluffy couch. "I'm not sure what it is," the Princess continued, "but…" "My friends and I believe that the changeling queen has returned. Wave Pool here," Twilight said, pointing to Wave before continuing," told me that right before she was flung out of Equestria, Chrysalis (which is what we believe she called herself) swore vengeance on Equestria as a whole, Canterlot specifically. I figured out that the Elements wouldn't do anything, since they are meant to target a single pony and Chrysalis has over a thousand in her army, and I believe that she would probably have become resistant, if not immune to, Shining's protection spell. I believe that Luna has been imprisoned somewhere, and I think I know where, and Chrysalis has taken her place."

The Princess was quite shocked, I could tell in her voice, and it was quite understandable. "But, if she can't be defeated by the Elements OR Shining's spell, then what CAN protect the kingdom? Our only other method of defense is… Twilight! You can't be serious!" "And if these two can't do it, then I have yet another trick up my sleeve…" Twilight continued, a smug tone in her voice, "I have made alliances with the Griffon Kingdom and the Southern Dragons. They are ready to help us defeat the Queen, or any other enemies we may face."

"I am impressed, my dear Twilight," said the Princess, "but, then again, I cannot think of a time when you have NOT impressed me." "Thank you, Princess," said Twilight. "But I believe there is something you may want to see." We then walked over to the balcony adjourning Princess Celestia's room. What we saw amazed us.

There were dragons of all shapes and sizes, standing outside Canterlot gates. Hovering in the air were at least two thousand griffons in V-formation. Then the griffon in the front and also one of the dragons flew up together and saluted. Wave was tapping all of this to me, and I heard them say in unison, "Griffon Kingdom and Southern Dragons, at your service, your majesty." I tapped this to Wave. "Cover all sides of Equestria. As far as I know, the changelings attempt to get revenge on Equestria proper, but not any of your kingdoms. I trust you have warriors to protect your fronts nonetheless?" said the Princess. "No, sir," said the griffon, "We have all of our troops here." "We do as well," said the dragon. I only knew which was which because griffons speak in a sort of haughty slur, and dragons speak quickly with an undertone of greed. "I admire your courage," said the Princess, "and I thank you for bringing all of your forces to defend your neighbors."

The Princess saluted the commanders, then they flew off. "As for you two," said the Princess, "I really don't want to put your lives in danger, and will use your magic as a last resort." Clearing my throat and bowing, I said, "With all due respect, your highness, we want to be your first resort. If not our magic, our lives. We want to protect our home just as much as you do, Princess." I tapped this to Wave, who nodded vehemently. "Well then," said the Princess playfully, "I guess I've been outvoted. In this case, let me get you some armor. Follow me. You too, Twilight."

We followed the Princess into the armory, where she fitted both of us with armor. "What's this made of?" I asked. "The material is called alluminite, it's found deep inside the mountain that this city is built on," said the Princess, "It's a very flexible yet strong metal, it allows you to move and will protect everything but your head and wings. That's what the helmet and wing-guards are for," she said, getting a helmet and wing-guards for each of us, made of the same material. It was incredibly light, I didn't feel weighed down by it at all, and I shoved my mane up through the slot in the helmet.

"How's it feel?" I tapped to Wave. "Great," she tapped back, "It feels like I'm not wearing anything at all." "Same here," I tapped. "Are you blushing?" she tapped to me. "No, it's from the cloud cake," I signed, jokingly. "There isn't any pink in cloud cake, silly," she signed back. "How could I tell?" I tapped to her. "…good point…" she tapped back, "But still." "I know…" I signed, "You're so pretty, though." "Thanks," she tapped shyly. By now, Twilight was done putting on her armor. "You two lovebirds ready?" asked Twilight. "Yes, Princess," I said, jokingly. "I told you, just call me Twilight," she said as we walked up the stairs out of the armory. "I know," I replied.

"Celestia?" I heard a voice from down the hall. "Celestia, where are you?" The voice was haughty, almost taunting, and I saw a figure coming down the hall. "What is it, Luna?" asked Princess Celestia. "Oh, there you are, dear sister. I've been wondering something…" started Luna. As soon as I realized who this was, I said, "Oh, hello, Princess! It's nice to meet you!" She looked down on me like I was an insect and said disapprovingly, "Uh huh…" Then she got back to Celestia. "Can we go someplace more private, you know, away from the _general public, _who seem to think that it's all right to be wandering around the royal palace?"

I was really astounded and, moreover, angry at the Princess's manners, or lack thereof, but I kept my mouth shut to keep her from insulting me further. They walked into a small room across the hallway, but she left the door open a tiny bit. I pressed my ear up to the tiny crack, and I heard their conversation. "I don't think we need the help of all those armies to defend the kingdom, sister," said Luna sweetly. "Luna, I'm aware that you share the power of ruling this kingdom with me, but I think that to defend our kingdom, we require more forces. That's why I brought them here," said Celestia. "Are you arguing with me?!" asked Luna, seemingly taken aback by this. "I'm aware that we usually agree on things such as this, sister, but this time, yes. I am, indeed, arguing with you. I believe I am right about this, but…" then Wave gently walked over and tapped on my shoulder, "I… don't think Luna's horn aura is green…" "Oh, Tia, are you having one of your migraines again? Here… let me help you…" said Luna. I heard Celestia then say in a monotonous and almost emotionless tone, "Mm-hmm…"

"Oh, no." I tapped back to Wave, "Run." Then we galloped down the hallway. Right after I turned the corner, I heard a faint, "Now, what did you want to…" from Luna, and then she said, "I guess they must have run off." "We aren't going to get any more help from the Princess now…" I tapped to Wave, and Twilight seemed to have gone a while ago, I wasn't sure where. "It seems that it's up to us," Wave tapped back. I nodded, and we galloped down the hall.

We burst through the door into the light of the setting sun, where apparently Luna had just given the order for all the troops to leave. "WAIT!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. Seeing me do this, Wave took off. Her flight was surprising for somepony who'd hardly ever flown before in her life. I took off with her, and while she was flying toward the edge of the city, she cleared her throat. She arrived at the edge of Canterlot, and she hovered there. "WAIT!" she exclaimed, fifty times louder than mine had been. I heard the sudden lack of footsteps right afterwards. She flew up to the front of the pack, I came with her. "The one who gave you those orders, she wasn't the real princess. She was an imposter, and get used to her. She's the one we're going to have to fight, and we're not going to get the aid of Princess Celestia either. She's been hypnotized by the spell," I told the leaders. They were clearly shocked, yet I continued, "United we stand, divided we fall." This must have reminded Wave of something, because she immediately took off. She sang, beautifully but extremely loudly to cover the entire distance, For a United Equestria.

The imposter Luna must have seen this, for suddenly I heard a ton of beating wings. I knew these must be the changelings. "BRACE YOURSELVES! THE CHANGELINGS ARE COMING!" I shouted out to the armies. I heard the thudding noises as they landed. "Come with me," I tapped to Wave. And we flew toward the top of the nearest mountain.


	9. Royal Battles and Royal Struggles

I heard the noises of battle, teeth clashing on scales, screaming, then I heard something else. The noise of beating wings and the noise of magic. I heard ponies of all types, earth ponies destroying the armies on the ground, under the radar of the flying changelings. Pegasi battling with swords in their hooves and armor on their backs, shouting orders to their fleets. Unicorns behind the walls of Canterlot, using magic to hurl missiles at the armies of Chrysalis.

When suddenly, I heard something completely new. Beneath the clashing of weapons and armor I heard a deep, earthly noise. It sounded like the very dirt beneath our hooves was crumbling. And indeed it was, for soon a section of the earth caved in and somepony flew out. "P...Princess… Luna?" stuttered Wave. I heard a different noise than normal unicorn magic, it was stronger somehow. Louder. It was coming from all directions at once, the noise of a magic shield. It had to be. Luna was protecting us. I wondered if the Princesses had some sort of mental connection. I heard less and less ponies, though. And I heard a thumping noise at the magic barrier, it was being pounded on by changelings. "Now or never," I tapped to Wave. We stood on back hooves and wrapped our wings around each other. "If I remember correctly, to maximize the magic," I started tapping to Wave, before she interrupted me. "I know," she tapped back. Then I felt the same magical surge that I felt with Twilight's horn on my wing. Only this time, it was even stronger. If Wave hadn't been there to hold me up, I would have fallen flat on my face. But she was, and we both rested on each other. We hugged tighter, and the magic became stronger. I wondered what would happen if…

In the next instant everything became a blur. I didn't know what was happening, nothing made any noise at all. The one thing I knew? Wave was kissing me. The world just sort of melted. I felt nothing, heard nothing, there was only us. We stood there for what seemed like hours, I never wanted to leave. And for now, I didn't have to. The world sort of came back gradually, first the ground beneath us, then the air, then the sounds. But it no longer sounded like a battle. It sounded… it sounded like cheering. It had to be, there was nothing else that sounded nearly this happy. I couldn't make out any words, just this general happy and joyous feeling that flowed through me like magic. To an extent, it was magic. The first words I made out were these:

"WE WON!"

I didn't recognize the voice, but soon at least a thousand separate voices were chanting the words. The words were those of victory. "We won," tapped Wave, "The changelings are gone." "Really?" I signed, smiling. "Really really," she tapped back. I picked her up, I flew around in circles with her in my hooves and tapped, "Wow." "Wow is right, I didn't know that was possible," she tapped back. "Well," I tapped jokingly, "Apparently it was."


	10. The Tears of More than One

I then heard a sword. It wasn't hitting anything in particular, but the world moved in slow motion for a few minutes, I felt a shock wave of magic and a repetitive and denigrating clanging noise as it fell to the ground. Wave, having apparently seen something while I heard all of that, tapped with a combination of worry and surprise on my back, "What was that?" "I don't know," I tapped back, "but it sounded like a sword just fell." "I saw a greenish shock wave, kind of like what happens when a rainboom is performed only a bright green, emanating from the throne room in the castle." "Well," I signed, "That narrows it down a bit. Let's go to the castle."

We flew over to the throne room, entered it and found a scratched up and bleeding Luna, her starry mane reduced to a few shreds of magic. Wave tapped to me what she saw, and I tapped back to her what I heard. What I heard was a strong magical aura, yet Wave had signed to me that Luna was in no state to use magic. She and I rushed over to Luna, who promptly said she was fine. We took her word for it, and we walked over to the apparent source of the magic. Wave attempted to describe the sword, but it was perfectly impossible. She'd tapped to me that it was green and black, it was emitting a greenish glow across the throne room from where it sat on the floor. The handle of the sword was black, and we both felt a mutual strong magic surge that was getting stronger from where it sat.

I almost tripped over something while I was walking closer to it, though. It was a humungous saddle, it was designed to nearly cover the tail and it had a flexible strap over it. It was obviously designed for an alicorn, only alicorns have that body type. It had a slot for a wing, but it obviously wasn't Luna's or any other normal alicorn's armor. For one thing, the wing slot was WAY too small for pegasus-type wings. For another, it was way longer than any armor I'd ever seen, and was built for somepony who was even thinner than Luna. I could only assume this was Chrysalis's armor.

Suddenly I realized what must have happened. Luna and Chrysalis must have been fighting. A.K.A, from what I'd read about the changeling queen, she was battling against another alicorn, PLUS almost the entirety of her own sister's love for her. Also, she seemed to have busted through about three miles of solid rock from what I heard during the battle. How Luna had managed all this, DESPITE the fact that she was an immortal alicorn, AND survived I had NO idea.

"You need help," I heard Wave tap to Luna. I walked over to Luna, who apparently didn't understand this, and translated for her. "I'll be fine, child," she said with great effort, then she groaned and lay her head back down on the floor. "Wind?" Wave tapped to me, "Luna needs help but she won't let me. Let's show her what we can do." "I'm perfectly fine with that," I tapped back to her. "Positions!" she tapped. We stood up on our back legs, wrapped our wings together and squinted. "We will help you, even if you don't want it," I told Luna, "We saved Equestria, remember?"

Tapping into the alicorn's gigantic, albeit disintegrating, magic reservoir, my vision whited out again. I was pretty much forced to open my eyes the whole way, and I put all my willpower into healing the Princess. I felt her pain, but we healed it. I felt the stinging in my side gradually becoming less. My hooves got stronger every second I grasped Wave's. We stood there, and every ache in my body simply melted away. I heard a few gasps from Luna, but since I didn't need her magic anymore I let go, instead of sapping our energy from hers I used ours to replenish hers.

When Wave and I opened our eyes and ears again, we saw and heard things to the same extent. Not only was Luna no longer bleeding, she wasn't hurt at all and neither were we. "Luna? Are you all right?" I asked her. "I am now, child," she replied, getting to her hooves, "I am now."

Suddenly somepony burst through the doors. "Luna!" shouted a familiar voice, "Luna! Are you okay?! What happened?!" "Tia…" Luna started, "I'm fine. But only thanks to those two." I knew she was gesturing to us, and although a bit embarrassed I nodded. "Chrysalis is gone for good, I banished her. And I told the stars that they shouldn't ever let her out. Being imprisoned on the moon forever should give her ample opportunity to reflect," said Luna, "I love you, Tia." "I love you too, Luna," said Princess Celestia. I heard the Princesses then walk over to us. "You saved my little sister?" asked Celestia. I nodded, humbly. "And you saved my kingdom?" she continued," Then I owe you two an apology. Earlier, I didn't know if you'd be able to make a difference. But now," she looked over at Luna, smiling, then continued, "I see that I misjudged you. Ponies can use magic, even if they're not unicorns. For magic," she paused for only a moment to think of what to say, "resides in us all."

"I think I know what this calls for," said Celestia, "I think this calls for a Pinkie Pie style party!" she finished with great enthusiasm, hugging her little sister as the party pony barged in. "She's got her party cannon!" tapped Wave with equal enthusiasm. "LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!" shouted Pinkie. I'd only ever heard her once before, that was on a TV documentary. I heard noisemakers, the flapping of streamers as they hung themselves all over the throne room and the opening of the doors as guests flooded in. "News gets around Canterlot FAST," I tapped to Wave, who agreed with me.

"Do you want to stay for the party?" I tapped to Wave, "Or do you want to go home? We have time to do either one, we've still got two days before the competition and I could get Twilight to teleport us there." "I think we should go home," she signed, "But I'll take the long way. Flying for two days will be hard, but I think it's worth it if I do it with you." I smiled and signed back, "Let's go, then." We walked slowly toward the balcony, then we took off and flew away from Celestia's setting sun. I wrapped my hoof around Wave and she did the same for me. "Let's go home," I sighed, saying it to nopony but myself.


	11. The Championships

"After an unfortunate kickoff a week ago, the Equestrian Surfing Championships are back on and are being held tomorrow," said a reporter mare on the TV. We'd gotten back after a little over a day of flying, and we were laying on the bed listening to/watching the news, we had captions on so Wave could read what the reporter was saying. " 'Unfortunate'," tapped Wave to me, at which we giggled, remembering what had actually happened and thinking the reporter was making a huge understatement. Wave switched off the TV. "We should go to bed," she tapped. "We're already in bed," I tapped. "Ugh," she said. "You know what I meant," she then tapped. "I know, I know…" I tapped back. "Let's go to SLEEP." Then we got cozy under the covers and dozed off.

The next morning, we woke up, put on our gold-rimmed goggles, got our boards and walked out. I made us clover sandwiches as a treat, and we warmed up for our event. The pegasi in the area had made absolutely positive that there would be no storms during the event. Wave was going last this time. Right before she was about to go out, I gave Wave a hug and tapped, "Don't die on me again, okay? Because if you die, I'll never speak to you again!" She giggled and jumped on her board, waving to me as she went out. "I'll try not to," she shouted back.

Wave performed her signature double front flip, she did a single back flip (which, honestly, I didn't know she could do) and she rode the tunnel on her front hooves. Once she rode back to shore, they announced that she was moving on to the final round and… so was I! We tied for first place. We both pretty much jumped up and down when we heard the results. The final round was in five minutes, enough time to get dried off. And get dried off we did, getting a couple of towels from a bin full of them that was for the surfers, and we left them in a pile next to the bin along with a bunch of others. Then we went to watch the final rounds, we were last since we were the oldest pegasi.

There were the little fillies, which did spectacular performances, then there were the young mares, slightly younger than us. Some had cutie marks, some didn't. Then it was time for us to go. "We got this far," I tapped to her, "Let's finish it." Then she jumped on and paddled out. She did her signature move, of course, and then did a move that I had taught her. She did the same move that was the first I ever showed her, and did a great job at it too. Then she rode back. "Your turn," she tapped, "Knock 'em dead." I smiled, nodded, and jumped on. I rode a tunnel, then I did the first move she ever showed me, I thought it'd only be fair. We waited a little while for the results, but neither of us were nervous. We were too happy with our own and each others' performances to be nervous.

"WE HAVE JUST RECEIVED THE RESULTS FOR THE PEGASUS DIVISION: FINAL ROUNDS," announced a mare over the loudspeakers. "THE WINNER IS… wait a second. FOLKS, WE HAVE, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE HISTORY OF THE CHAMPIONSHIPS…" she paused, and I wondered briefly what it was, but then she started again, "A TWO WAY TIE! WE WILL NOW ASK THE TWO PONIES WHO TIED FOR FIRST PLACE WHETHER OR NOT THEY WOULD LIKE TO TRY AGAIN, FOR AN ULTIMATE WINNER!"

I shook my head at Wave, and she tapped to me, "Me neither. I think if we tied, we tied." A pony came over, and she said, "Would you like to…" before I cut her off. "I heard over the loudspeakers, no need to repeat it. And no, we would not like to compete again. As Wave here said, 'I think if we tied, we tied'." "All right," said the mare, "but who gets the trophy?" "We'll share it," I told her, Wave took the trophy from the mare. "Thank you for your time." "Uh…" started the mare, unsure of what to say, "You're… welcome."

We walked back to the hotel room, and Wave picked up her saddlebags. She pulled something out of them. "Close your ears, I don't want to spoil the surprise," she tapped to me. I did as she asked. I felt her slip something onto my wing. She opened my one ear and tapped, "You can open them now."

"Wind Rider…" she started tapping nervously, extending her wings and sitting on the carpet, "Will you…" she paused, wiping sweat from her brow, and then she made up her mind, "Will you marry me?" I had only one response to this. I leaned over and kissed her. I tapped on her shoulder, "Of course I will, Wave. Of course I will."


	12. Epilogue - A Big, Happy Family

It was fifteen years later. We lived in Fillydelphia, Wave convinced me (quite easily, I might add) to move there. We built a large house on the edge of a forest outside the city, and we adopted two twin foals. Today? Today is their fifth birthday.

We prepared the cake, I finished icing it. "Happy birthday, Sun Rider and Moon Pool," tapped Wave to me, "Looks good! You still have such good hoofwriting for a blind mare." "Thanks, Wave," I tapped back to her. "Mama?" Sun Rider asked, "When is the cake going to be ready?" "When it's ready, sweetie," I said, "in about five minutes," I told her, ruffling her mane. Moon Pool was already sitting at the table. "Mama?" she asked me, "When are you going to finish writing that book of yours?" "Probably today," I told her. "What's it about?" she asked. "The last chapter is about us," I told her. "So I'm in a book?" asked Sun Rider, she reminded me of what I'd read about Rainbow Dash and she used her little wings to hover in front of my face. "That's right, pumpkin!" I told her, "You're in a book!"

"COOL!" she said, flying over to sit in her chair. "Okay, fillies, the cake is ready!" I said. I lit the five candles, and asked, "Who wants to be sung to first?" I asked. Sun Rider immediately shouted, "Me! Me!" and raised her hoof as high in the air as she could. "Okay," I told her, then started the song. Wave had learned the song and was only a little off key, which I thought was cute.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you

Happy birthday, Sun Rider,

Happy birthday to you!"

Then we sang the same song to Moon Pool,

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you

Happy birthday to Moon Pool,

Happy birthday to you!"

"Make a wish and blow out the candles!" I told them. They spent about three seconds contemplating, then they blew out the five candles. "Great job!" I told them. "Now who wants some cake?" Every hoof shot up in the air, and I said, "Mommy gets the first slice of cake." Nopony complained about this, I'm a fast cutter of cakes. "Moon Pool gets the next slice," I said, giving the slices out to them as I got them, "And Sun Rider gets the next piece," I continued, "And I'll get the last piece." Then we sat and ate our cake.

"Are you going to go upstairs and write the last of the story?" asked Moon Pool shyly, in a high-pitched tone. "Yes I am, Moon. I'm going to finish the chapter about today, then I think I'll be done." But the important thing is that, although THIS story may be over, our story sure isn't. In fact, I think it's just begun.


End file.
